


The Shells at the bottom of the Sea

by orphan_account



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Merman Derek, Merman Everyone, Merman Stiles, Oblivious Stiles, Seals (Animals), Sharks, Wooing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-05
Updated: 2014-09-05
Packaged: 2018-02-16 06:39:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2259711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Stiles is a seal merman trying to fit in with the sharks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Shells at the bottom of the Sea

Stiles is fine with sharks, he has no problem with them. Sure, it was a surprise when Scott’s tail turned rough instead of the earlier smooth scales. (Stiles doesn’t understand how he thought that he could hide that, because Scott liked hugs and it was kind of obvious when Stiles brushed his tail against Scott’s when he still couldn’t control the change). And it’s kind of scary how sharp Scott’s teeth and claws turns when he wants them to. Though they’re awesome when you want to open a clam or a shellfish. Against his neck, not so much.

But Stiles is totally fine with Scott, and sure Scott is hanging out with the other sharks nowadays most of the time, but Stiles doesn’t feel betrayed, not at all.

(Okay he does, but then Scott always shows up to hunt some fish closer to the surface when Stiles is feeling down and Stiles can forgive Scott if he’s willing to follow him into shallow water. Beside they hang out most of the time either way, Stiles can learn to share the awesomeness that is Scott. Stiles understands why people want to hang onto Scott.)

What Stiles has problem with are Megalodons, because that is one scary kind of shark, and big, really _really_ big.

-

Derek has the habit of showing up when Stiles least suspects it, and by the annoying curl of his lips Stiles would say that it amuses him when Stiles startles. A great deal too, because he does it often. Sneaky bastard. Stiles can appreciate it tough, because Derek must have put a lot of time into learning how to sneak up on smaller creatures of the sea. He’s also kind of easy on the eye. His tail is a steel blue colour you mostly see in the northern waters, and his eyes are a fucking piece of art. Stiles thinks it’s kind of unfair that Derek is hoarding all the pretty colours.

“The fish is better in the preserve,” Derek says.

“Yeah I know,” Stiles says, because he’s been there, once or twice, and how did that end up? His friends turned into a fucking shark.

“The fish is fatter there, easier to catch.”

“Are you saying I can’t hunt, because dude I can, maybe not those big things you keep on dragging to you little den, but I can totally catch smaller fish and I feel like people should appreciate that more. Because they’re faster than your fishes… fish,” Stiles says, and he thinks Derek looks a little out of it.

“I don’t think you can’t hunt, _Stiles_.” Stiles doesn’t shivers when his name rolls of Derek’s tongue, because it doesn’t sounds nice to hear him say Stiles. And Stiles wouldn’t like to kiss his stupid face. He’s perfectly fine living in denial.

“I just- we could hunt together.”

“So you can watch me fail?”

“No- I-,” Derek growls, actually growls like some kind of out-of-sea-creature,”forget it.”

Stiles thinks it looks like he’s blushing when he turns and swims away, but probably not, because Derek doesn’t blush. Probably. It’s a bodily functioning, so it means that Derek _could_ blush.

Stiles doesn’t glance at his ass either.

-

“What the hell?”

There are shells inside Stiles cave, lots and lots of shells in dark colours, the kind that comes from deep down in the ocean, which makes it nearly impossible for most to swim down there because of the pressure. He tried once, with Scott, and only succeeded in busting their eardrums because of the pressure. Scott can do it now, if he’s careful, but Stiles doesn’t think this is Scott.

The problem is that Stiles doesn’t know why Derek would fill his cave with shells. Perhaps he still thinks that Stiles can’t hunt, and that’s kind of rude. Stiles, as said, can hunt just fine. He’s done it since he moved out from his dad.

He eats them either way. They taste great. Stiles is never going to tell Derek.

-

One thing that is good with Stiles life is that he’s a seal merman, which makes it possible for him to hang out on the surface longer than most (he can’t however be underwater for too long, unless he wants to drown, which for a merman would just be sad).

Which is why Stiles is floating around on a floe trying to catch as much sun as you can around the arctic ocean. He’s never going to get a tan, Jackson has one because he’s a stupid tropical fish thingy that might be a reptile but no one is really sure about that one. Stiles is pretty sure that at least some part of him is a mudskipper.

He’s thinking about leaving his ice floe, and try to find that nice kelp that the Orcas swim through, but he’s lazy, it would be easier if he just stayed where he was, and didn’t move for at least a couple of days. Or weeks.

There’s a small splash, barely audible, and he turns to look at Derek who’s staring at him from the water. Between a moment and the next he’s at the floe, and there’s blood dripping from around his mouth down his chin and chest, and wow, hey, that’s kind of hot, objectively speaking.

“Uh, hi?” Stiles says, licks his lips nervously.

Derek stare turns kind of intense, and Stiles has no idea what to do with that.

“Did you like the shells?”

“Yeah, they were good, I mean I have no idea how you got them. Must have been pretty deep down for that many, must have been hard even for a megalodon. But they were good, yeah… _uh_.”

There’s blood on the ice now, seeping through and making that weird pattern blood does in water, and if Derek’s face wasn’t smeared with blood Stiles would say that he was blushing again. Actually he’s looking kind of embarrassed altogether and Stiles forgets sometimes that Derek doesn’t really have that many people that can thank him. And that’s sad seeing as Derek deserves them, all of the praises. Stiles should get the shoal to give Derek the love he needs. And hugs, even though most of the people Stiles knows has  rough and sandpapery tails that kind of itches when they touches his. Maybe it’s not a problem between sharks.

The silence has probably gone on for a little too long, because Derek looks more uncomfortable now and then he throws up a carcass on the ice beside Stiles. Stiles flinches back before looking at it.

“Dude, did you catch a penguin, that’s amazing, you have no idea how good these things tastes. After you have removed the feathers of course, because _yuck_ you do not want to eat the feathers. My dad and I sometimes hunts for them together,” Stiles smiles.

“Leopard seals tend to like them,” Derek explains, and he looks pleased with himself.

“You know what kind of seal I am?”

Derek crunches his eyebrows together, it’s not cute _goddamn it_.

“Stiles, it’s not that hard to guess,” Derek says.

“Oh, yeah.”

They stare at each other, and isn’t there some law against breaking eye contact with a predator, or is it the other way around, that you shouldn’t look a predator in the eye, is Derek going to _eat_ Stiles. Derek lifts his eyebrows and nods towards the bird.

“What?”

“It’s for you,” Derek says, sort of grunts before he disappears underneath the surface again, maybe he was out of air (water?) and got tired of Stiles. That doesn’t explain why he left Stiles with the meat. Maybe it’s another jab at his hunting skills, but he decides to not look a gift horse in the mouth and starts to pluck the feathers watches as they drift away on the stream.  

Maybe Derek is trying to provide for the shoal, the weakest one, so that Stiles doesn’t die in some horrible way because he hasn’t had enough to eat.

-

Stiles cave is the best there is, because it starts as a tunnel underwater and ends in a small room filled with smooth stones and sand. He thinks it was created by the waves, like most of the caves around the shore. There’s even a little opening where he can get out on the beach, and in the winter it’s closed by the snow and makes the small den warm and comfy. The important part is that it’s on land, _above_ the water surface. It’s a space that does not exist underneath the surface of the ocean and Derek _still_ decides to show up.

The first thing Stiles sees are nice and muscular forearms, and if Stiles was unsure of who it was the second thing he sees is thick eyebrows pinched together and an unhappy downturned lips. Does Derek smile, Stiles isn’t sure, he thinks he has seen him smile maybe once or twice. (It’s four times and Stiles has them all noted down very carefully. Only one was because of Stiles, and it was the anniversary of Laura’s death and Stiles decided to show up and decorate the grave with glass rounded by the waves. The smile was brittle, and it looked like a poke would shatter Derek in that moment. It’s not a happy memory. A good one though.)

“Do you live here?” it’s sounds like Derek is judging him.

“Yup, you wouldn’t be able to find a nicer place, or maybe you have, I haven’t really been inside your cave, den, whatever you call it. I’m sure mine’s better though, so no judging,” Stiles smoothes down some of the pebbles, and watches one roll down and bounce against Derek’s forearm. It makes Stiles stare at it again, then his eyes flickers up and he swears he sees Derek smirk.

“So--”

“There’s a flock of birds nesting beside the shore.”

“M _hm_.”

“We’re going to pilfer some of the eggs.”

Stiles wrinkles his nose.

“Is that like a shark thing? The constant eating, I mean I’m not mocking your obvious interest in blood and meat and whatnot, and Scott eats _anything_ these days, which is a little weird because it used to be the other way around. But serious tough, do you do anything other than hunt? You know fun things.”

Derek leans closer. Stiles thinks that he looks interested, but in what he has no idea about.

“What do you like to do?”

That’s a weird question, at least it’s weird for Derek to ask Stiles that.

“There’s this kelp forest a little north of the preserve, you can swim through it and oh my god, there isn’t anything that feels more amazing than that. Then there’s going to shore and you know, just relax and follow the waves’ movements. What do you like to do?”

Derek lifts one of his eyebrows again, “You want to know?”

“Yeah, why not?” That’s a smile.

“Laura and I used to travel with the Gulfstream, down south to tropical water. There’s this farm, close to shore, they grow oranges and sometimes they fall into the ocean.”

“Didn’t know you had a sweet tooth.” The smile slips of Derek’s lips as fast as it appeared, and he looks like he’s going to leave Stiles cave. Stiles doesn’t want that, because it has been nice-- to talk to Derek. They don’t usually do that.

“Nothing wrong with that, just something I didn’t know. So why haven’t you gone there again?” he hurries to ask.

“It was never really safe especially if we turn, there’s more people there, tourists.”

That’s something Stiles forgot, he’s only seen it once, the giant shark form. Once was enough, he could have lived without seeing how Peter looked shifted, that had been traumatic. The good thing is that at least Derek seems to have grown more comfortable about talking about his other family, like Laura, Stiles would really like to hear more about Laura.

“Stiles.”

“Yeah?”

“The eggs.”

“You sure you want me with you?”

“Yeah,” Drek breathes, and is sounds a little strained, too much time above water?

Stiles bites his lips, then nods, “Let’s go.”

-

Stiles likes Boyd. Boyd was, before he became one of the sharks, some kind of whale, so he’s kind of big. Boyd also knows what it’s like having to return to the surface every other hour, even though he never have to do it nearly as often as Stiles does. That’s why he’s the first one to react when the kelpie tackles Stiles into a stone wall, pushing the air out of his lungs.

While Isaac and Scott lungs for the kelpie, Derek still trying to get out of the kelp wrapped around his throat, Boyd stops and looks at Stiles and when he sees him hacking he turns from the fight. Pulling Stiles’ arm around his broad shoulders he sends Derek a glance before he takes of for the surface.

The dull ache starts almost instantly and when they finally break the surface Stiles blood is pounding in his ears, his eyes and throat feel raw and salty. Everything is kind of blurry and his eyes tears up when he blinks, there’s blackspots dancing in front of him. Boyd directs them towards a small stone formation, Stiles till gasping for his breath when he finally props him against the stones.

“Deep breaths,” Boyd says, patting his cheeks awkwardly, Stiles can’t help but laugh dizzily at him.

“Derek’s going to be mad that you left,” he says when he finally can breath normally again.

Boyd arches an eyebrow. Stiles’ opinion is that the sharks spends a little too much time with Derek if they’re starting to adopt the eyebrows communication.

“It’s lucky you’re pretty,” and Boyd is clearly spending too much time with Erica also. Stiles can forgive that though, because they’re kind of sweet when they’re together and not having sex. Stiles doesn’t want to see them have sex ever. Not that they’re not nice looking people, everyone Stiles knows are kind of beautiful.

“You’re pretty too, though Scott is the prettiest one,” Stiles mumbles.

Boyd nods.

Derek appears after a little while, making sure that Boyd is fine before he takes Stiles back to his cave. (Derek has really nice hands, warm and broad as he places Stiles on the sand. Also Derek is way too paranoid because he starts timing Stiles trips to the surface.)

-

Stiles and Derek has been hanging out more, that’s why when Stiles finds about the ice breaker he swims to Derek’s place instead of Scott’s like he would usually do. Derek’s cave is deep inside the preserve, and a place Stiles usually doesn’t venture to because it’s underneath the ice and if Stiles suddenly would need air he probably wouldn’t be able to come to the surface fast enough. There’s air pockets, but they’re hard to find.

There’s a larger variety of fishes in the preserve, they’re larger too and there is even a couple of whales from time to time.

When Stiles finds the cave Erica is there. Half of the cave is demolished from a water mine that sunk from one of the Argent’s ships.

“Stiles, what are you doing here?”

“Looking for Derek.”

“Of course you are,” she says, and Stiles thinks there some kind of hidden meaning behind that curl of lips.

You never know with Erica though, Stiles is pretty sure the legends about beautiful mermaids drowning men comes from her, so Stiles tends to be wary around her. She nods towards the cave opening in the ground. He’s about half inside before he knocks into Derek-- who’s back to glaring at Stiles, damn.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking around,” Stiles says while being pushed out of the cave, his tail being awkwardly bent trying to navigate backwards. “For you that is, but apparently I’m not allowed here. I thought we were beyond that, or am I taking our sudden friendship wrong, are we not bonding?”

Derek scowls even more, and Stiles can hear Erica laughing as he’s pushed past her, damn her and her secrets.

“You shouldn’t be inside the preserve, the surface is covered.”

“I know, but didn’t you want me to go hunting here a little while ago, so I just thought that it was alright for me to come here now,” Stiles shrugs, and Derek finally takes his hand off Stiles shoulder, albeit a little reluctantly, maybe he thinks Stiles will just ignore him and go back.

“I would have been with you then,” Derek answers easily.

"How's that supposed to help?"

Derek frowns grows, and maybe it wasn't really a great idea to say that Derek is incapable of  protecting Stiles. He thinks he matters enough to Derek for him to want to protect him like his other little odd sharks, and they do have a friendship based on mutual saving.

"I could help you," Derek says. Stiles is pretty sure he's pouting.

They pass the last of the kelp, the water growing a little lighter with the sun being able to filter through. Stiles likes to watch Derek swim, his tail moving from side to side, slow but powerful. It makes his back and stomach muscle move, which is nice, really nice. Derek glides through water, while Stiles propels himself forward.

“So what did you want?”

Stiles grins, all teeth.

“There’s humans here, and we’re checking them out.”

Derek lifts his eyebrows, like he’s thinking about correcting Stiles from ordering him around.

“You think that’s a good idea, remember Allison?”

“Of course I do. Scott stills visits her from time to time you know, so I think that it turned out fairly okay in the end. Like we could have been without all the bloodshed but for a star crossed couple they’re pretty cute.”

Derek crunches his eyebrows together, “That’s why you want to go up, to find a mate?”

“No, not really.” Stiles isn’t really ready for that, but he’s working on getting over his crush - it’s a little more than that- on Derek. They’re friends now at least.

“But you still wants to surface?”

“I still wants to go up, come one don’t go all Triton on me.” Stiles knows his shit, because Scott and Stiles stole Allison’s computer and watched The Little Mermaid together on the beach. It was hard to maneuver when Scott couldn’t be without water for a longer period of time, but they made it work.

Derek sighs, which sends bubbles out of his mouth, but it’s his _alright_ sigh, which means he will do it. Stiles smiles and he swears he sees Derek’s mouth curl in the corners.  

-

Of course nothing ever goes right for them. Stiles should have known this would happen, but he’s stupid when it comes to exploring new things, or else he wouldn’t have met Derek. He doesn’t regret that, but it’s proof that Stiles should never be in charge of taking decisions.

He’s getting rashes over his hands from Derek’s tail, and the lines that cuts into his hands makes them bleed. It’s upsetting Derek, making him growl, angry and raw deep down in his throat. Stiles ignores him, continues to try to pry of the fine lines of the net that is digging into Derek’s tail and flesh.

They won’t snap but he can untangle them, prying a bigger and bigger hole for Derek to slip out from.

“Stiles let go,” Derek grits out.

“Yeah, not a chance.”

“I can probably get out of this, if I transform. But then you have to get out of the way.”

“You can _probably_ get out, that is not reassuring Derek!”

“Just, get back Stiles,” Derek pleads.

Stiles stares at him, trying to see if Derek is lying, because that is something he would do, lie to keep Stiles safe. He tries to look reassuring at least, so Stiles pries away his fingers from the net and swims a yard back. The net is being pulled after the icebreaker, soon they will pull it up on deck and then Derek is screwed.

The transformation is slow going, Stiles cringes when he sees the net biting into Derek more and more as he grows. Then the first line snaps, and a second follows and holy shit Stiles forgets how big Derek is when he grows full Megalodon. The shark is probably as big as the fucking ship. There’s a metallic grinding when Derek’s starts to pull the ship downwards until the last of the lines snaps.

Stiles wonders what the crew must think, but that’s not important right now. He snaps his tail, until he can grab onto Derek’s left fin. He pries of the last of the net, so that Derek won’t sink to the bottom trying to untangle himself.  Then they’re off, there’s a moment where Derek’s body scraps against the ice above them, before they’re in open water again.

When they slow down he follows Derek’s side until he’s hovering beside Derek’s eye.

“Are you stupid!”

Derek peers at him, opening his mouth for Stiles to see rows and rows of sharp teeth.

“Dude, I will not lose you to some stupid net! We fucking survived this far, and for what, for some random fishers to snatch you up?”

“You really think that was some random fishers?” Derek says after he shrinks back. “Do you think that I can’t get out of a normal net. If I get caught you have to listen to me.”

“And what, swim away? Are you stupid, I wouldn’t leave you there!”

“You should, how else am I supposed to protect you Stiles, do you even understand the danger if it had been the other way around?” Derek snarls, swimming away from Stiles, like the discussion is over, like Derek’s already decided that he’s right.

“Of course I do, but that doesn’t mean you should take my fucking place. You what, thought it would be smart to tackle me out of the way!”

Derek clenches his jaws, jutting out his chin.

“Derek, I care about you, I don’t want you to be caught by some random hunters.”

“Well so do I!”

“You what?” Stiles asks, slowing down a little bit when Derek stops.

“I _care_ , and I don’t want you to get hurt,” Derek’s says through gritted teeth, but his eyes aren’t red like Stiles would expect, they’re still the weird hazel they always are, and Derek looks kind of hurt, like Stiles grew legs and decided to kick him.

“Wait, I think there is more to this, you care about me. What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Like you don’t know,” Derek grunts, backing of and making space between them, space that Stiles doesn’t want there, so he follows.

"What is that supposed to mean-” Derek face looks kind of red again, and yes, he is blushing, like he was before. “ _Oh_.”

Stiles narrows his eyes, because Derek has been acting weird since he insulted Stiles hunting capability, but apparently he didn’t insult Stiles at all.

“You’ve been- _wooing_ me, that’s what the food has been about, and the shells. Which is food, but nevermind that. You like me!”

Oh god, Derek looks embarrassed now, eyes downcast, and Stiles really, really wants Derek to look at him right now. But when he tries to bend down and peer up at Derek’s face, he flinches back and tries to swim away again.

“Hey- hey, wait, Derek wait, I didn’t know,” he grabs onto Derek’s wrist.

“You didn’t know?” Derek says dubiously.

“Yeah, I just thought you were, I don’t know?” Stiles says, because how could he not notice that Derek liked him.

Finally Derek looks at Stiles and his voice comes out all hopeful, “And now?”

“And now I know,” he grins. “I think you should kiss me.”

Derek smiles, soft and bashful, and how can someone that turns to a shark ten times Stiles size be this cute. Stiles is the one that leans in and seals their mouths together, and it’s nice, even though he gets saltwater into his lungs and everything under the surface taste like salt. He would have loved to know how Derek tastes like, but it’s okay he supposes, because this means that he has the chance to learn.

He moans when Derek grows braver, when the kiss turns a little bit filthier with their tongues rubbing against each other.

“Am still mad though, and we probably should do something about the hunters,” Stiles says when they break apart, but he still smiles, pants against Derek’s shoulder. Derek’s smile is the most beautiful he’s seen.

-

Stiles still can’t be underwater for too long, and Derek can’t be above water for too long. Sometimes it’s awkward, but they make it work, and now when Derek shows up beside the floe with a penguin, Stiles can lean down and kiss him. He can also look at Derek’s ass, and his forearms, everything actually because Derek’s perfect.

There’s also the fact that Derek is really surly, but also really nice. That he’s a dork that likes human stuff, even though he denies it, like books and will take them to Stiles to share. That he will curl around Stiles like an octopus to keep them floating and tell him stories about Laura and his family, soft whispers hot against Stiles ears.

(Derek tastes like salt and blood, but also like oranges and marrow and sand, which is nice.)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not really good at dialogues, but you have to start somewhere. 
> 
> I don't think we would like the taste of marrow and sand, but merfolk has different standard I guess.
> 
> Scott - Clown fish (Hammerhead shark)
> 
> Derek - Megalodon
> 
> Erica - Lion fish (Leopard shark)
> 
> Boyd - Minke whale (Bull shark)
> 
> Isaac - Moray eel (Tiger shark)
> 
> Stiles - Leopard seal


End file.
